English
case
Case comes from Old French cas ‘an event’, from Latin cāsus ‘a fall; accident, chance’, from cadō ‘to fall’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- ‘to fall’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂d-1‘to fall’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-ti2reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō3‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō1‘to fall’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcāsus1‘a fall; accident, chance’perfect passive participle of cadō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cas1‘an event’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cas1
- Englishearliest quotation 1586case1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English case
- 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadō
- 3 Wiktionary, Latin cado
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1586, William Warner, The Fourth Booke. Chapter XXXVI.: “Thus vvhilſt he hopt he hild her leaſt, ſo…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂d-Wiktionary, English case‘to fall’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-tiWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadōreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadōWiktionary, Latin cado‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadōWiktionary, English case‘to fall’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcāsusWiktionary, English case‘a fall; accident, chance’perfect passive participle of cadō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400casWiktionary, English case‘an event’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500casWiktionary, English case
- Englishearliest quotation 1586caseWiktionary, English case. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1586, William Warner, The Fourth Booke. Chapter XXXVI.: “Thus vvhilſt he hopt he hild her leaſt, ſo…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with case, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Latin cadō ‘to fall, to drop’
- chance ← cheance ← *cadentia
- accident ← accidēns ← accidō
- incident ← incidens ← incidō
- cheat ← achetan ← escheat ← *excadēre
- occasion ← occasioun ← occasiun ← occāsiōnem
- incidence ← incidentia ← incidens ← incidere
- coincide ← coïncider ← coincidere
- decay ← decaien ← decaeir ← *dēcadere ← dēcidō
- casualty ← casuel ← casualitas ← cāsus
- deciduous ← dēciduus ← dēcidō
- occidental ← occidentalis ← occidēns ← occidō
- cadence ← cadenza ← *cadentia
22 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of case
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kapyéti‘to be grasping’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kapjō‘to take, to seize’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kapsosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapsa‘a box, case, holder, repository’
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400casse‘Old Norman form of chasse’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500case‘box, chest, casket, case’
- Englishtodaycase
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Today it means
noun An actual event, situation, or fact.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “case”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kadō, Latin cado. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- / case